Many company’s forced labor, human trafficking, or ‘modern day slavery’ disclosures – whether mandated by transparency regulations or part of broader sustainability, corporate social responsibility, or human rights reporting – do not reflect a credible understanding of how specific practices of value chain partners and recruitment intermediaries in their supply chains expose vulnerable workers to the risk of forced labor. Consequently, many of the detection and prevention efforts outlined in these disclosures are not sufficiently targeted to effectively address the root causes of these insidious and deeply entrenched abuses.

The Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment formally launched in London on May 4th with an ambitious announcement of its intention to eradicate the charging of recruitment fees to workers within a decade. Labor recruitment fees charged to vulnerable workers are a major contributing factor to forced labor in global supply chains and the Leadership Group is squarely focused on promoting the ‘Employer Pays Principle’ and facilitating its implementation across all industries and geographies.